A Young Imperial's Reflections
by Andie Firehawk
Summary: Rated PG-13 for language and a few mature themes- namely, boy trouble! Original character Incendia Reseda rants about life, the universe, and everything- not to mention the trials and travails of having Darksider/Imperial parents... sort of AU 'cause the


1 Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars, I never will (if I did, I'd be one rich girl!), but Antonio and Incendia Reseda and most other chars in this story are MINE and my friend Katina's characters… steal them and DIE!  
  
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7 Date: 3.12.67 AE, 9:37 PM  
  
I am starting this journal on the suggestion of my Aunt Rori… the last time she visited we talked for a little while about certain issues I was having. Ahem, BOYS. SUCK. I really hate being hit on… I think I got it from Mum, she says she used to break any guy's jaw who tried to pick her up! (Until Dad came along… heh.)  
  
I swear by the Force, I have the weirdest family this side of a bunch of epileptic, schizophrenic Ewoks. I try to get along with Mum and Dad, though a couple of Sith are obviously gonna be weird by definition. Mum always worries too much- is that a typical Mom thing, or what? At least I can sort of talk to her, though. We're totally polar opposites in many ways.  
  
Dad's okay, I suppose… when he's not peeved about something, and that's about 3% of the time. Jeez, Dad, lighten up! Though people say I'm just like him in some ways… that's probably true, definitely as far as physiological stuff goes. He gave me his damn allergies! AH-CHOO! Geh, Antonio lucked out… and I really hate having no talent for the mental side of the Force! Okay, maybe a little, sorta like Antonio can do a little bit with telekinesis, but he has more mental ability… One can imagine how much we pick on each other… scabs always get picked on, har-har.  
  
Mum, Dad and freaky twin brothers aside, there's the rest of my psycho family, too. I dunno who's worse, the, ahem, eccentric Reseda side, or the just plain bizarre Firehawk side. I wonder if Mum's the least freakish of that lot… naaah, probably not! Well, I suppose one reason the Firehawks are so bizarre is because there's so many of them! At least a couple of Mum's cousins have gotten married… though Aunt Rori seems so absorbed in her career she'll probably never marry.  
  
I won't EVEN discuss Aunt Rori… yet, anyway. Of all the people I know she is probably the only one I still haven't figured out. I think one of the many Reseda family curses is having really weird/bossy aunts… I've heard and seen PLENTY about Great-aunt Liana, mostly from Dad. I think Mom's just too polite to say anything mean about her… probably not good to say things about a little old lady who just happens to be a crack shot with a blaster. (Though, as Dad says, she's 'bossy as a nek battle dog, but has the heart of a big fuzzy rabbit'!) Dad's cousin Omnis is a pretty fun guy, though, if a bit weird like the rest of them!  
  
The grandparents are something else entirely… I like Grandpa Drayke a lot, but get him and Grandpa Irving together and they start debating… they'd debate until the moon turns into purple cheese! They have… shall we say, differing political views. Grandma Caril seems kind of like an ice queen a lot of the time- I think I see where Aunt Rori gets it!  
  
Uh-oh… lights out!!! Dad's telling me to go to bed, NOW!!!  
  
-@-Cindy Reseda-@-  
  
Date: 3.13.67 AE, 7:21 PM  
  
I officially HATE writing essays! We had to write these stupid essays about Emperor Palpatine, which sucked more sausage than a Corellian breakfast! We turned them in last Monday, and got them back today, a Tuesday… and I got marked down for saying that Palpatine 'bore a vague resemblance to a dried- up popil fruit'! Well, it's true! Now I'm really mad, I got an 89%, not up to my standards! What really cheeses me off is that goody-goody Antonio got a 94… and HE'S complaining! Hah, what a weenie… but he still found time to lord it over me. Sometimes, I wish I could chuck him out one of the Cadenza's airlocks… but then, his sudden demise would probably pass over our connection and kill me, too, or at least I'd seriously be hurting. Probably something I want to avoid.  
  
Also, my kriffing trumpet is all out of tune, which reeks! Antonio and I have our orchestra recital in three days, too! Mom, Dad and about fifty zillion other people are gonna be there, and I don't want to look like an absolute geek-a-zoid in front of everyone while Antonio delivers this killer solo… and besides, I wouldn't want to subject the audience to horribly out of tune trumpet farts!  
  
Geh, speaking of which, after I tune up this stupid excuse for an instrument I need to practice my solo part… AND get to this darn science paper I have to write about the physics of a hyperdrive (actually, that was kind of fun to research!)… And Mum's been yarking at me to meditate… hello! There are only so many hours in a day! Then again, Antonio said that meditating might help me gather my wits about me so I can tackle all of this- hmmm, he has a point…  
  
~^~ Cindy Reseda ~^~  
  
Date: 3.14.67 AE, 8:22 PM  
  
Snore… I am so freaking tired it's not even funny… I got my trumpet all tuned up, and now it's sounding great! Tony actually came in while I was practicing, and I didn't even notice him until I was done; I was pretty into my solo…  
  
He said I sounded fine, and even gave me some tips and whatnot! He may be a rancor butt sometimes, but other times he's actually okay… I mean, I've been stressing out about this recital forever, and about whether I'd end up sounding like a farting Hutt (or just a Hutt, period…) and I suppose Antonio helped me calm down a bit. In return for his 'services' he asked me to listen to hear his cello thingamawhatsit… hah, HE'S ready! I dunno how he does it… but hey, maybe this recital thing won't be so bad after all! That is, if we don't run late AND Dad doesn't get pulled over for speeding… and last time, someone stuck chewing gum in the valves of my trumpet! ANNOYING! Also, there's that drippy tuba guy who sits right behind me and always gives me those perverted looks… hah, if he tries to ask me on a date I think I'll just stuff him inside his own damn tuba!  
  
-^-Cindy… ZZZZ…-^-  
  
Date: 3.15.67 AE, 9:02 PM  
  
Well, nothing much exciting happened today, except Dion Travers got his finger stuck in one of the Bunsen burners during Chemistry class… I wonder how he managed THAT? What a bonehead- I told Antonio about it and he said that ole Dion must've been sniffing the ethylene again. I bet Antonio's onto something…  
  
Well, it's a good thing for Dion that the Bunsen burner wasn't actually hooked up to anything- otherwise he would've ended up with a flambéed finger. It was an especially good thing that I wasn't in a particularly evil mood right then, or it would've been Deep-fried Dion or Toasty Travers! It's amazing how retarded some people are…  
  
Oh, criminy, the recital's TOMORROW NIGHT! I'm not as nervous, though… and Aunt Rori sent is a little good-luck message. Now she wants a recording! I guess she likes music, hmmm? A listener rather than a player…  
  
Heheh… we had Corellian food for dinner tonight, and Antonio kept trying to shove his food onto my plate. I harfed it all, being the hungry fiend I usually am. (BURP!) Tony always was a picky eater…  
  
-x-Cindy Reseda-x-  
  
Date: 3:16:67 AE 11:16 PM  
  
Okay, I am about to drop dead of exhaustion, but I don't give a flying flop at the moment…  
  
Well, tonight was the big night!!!! School was nothing special, though orchestra got to spend all lunchtime just going over the program! At least Dion Travers didn't get his finger stuck in the Bunsen burner again, but he almost spilled sulfuric acid all over the teacher's holoprojector. Can you say… negative IQ points? Or how about half the brain power of an oxygen- starved and completely wasted Gammorrean?  
  
As for the concert itself, well, we almost ran late because Antonio couldn't find his cummerbund or bow tie! Well, that's until Mom saved the day by finding them, and by that time we had to get going QUICKLY! See, the orchestra had to be there an hour early so they could warm up and do a last run-through of a few key pieces. Antonio and I ended up doing an impromptu "Duel of Cello and Trumpet" that all the other students got a kick out of! Hey, it beats "Duel of the Kazoos"!  
  
Well, the whole thing went off without a hitch… except for the conductor losing one of his batons, which almost hit Dad on the nose! I bet his telekinesis came in quite handy there…  
  
As for that creepy tuba dude, he got icky-icky on me, as usual. I was sorely tempted to whack him with my trumpet case (or better yet, his own tuba case) and then stuff that tuba where the suns of Tatooine don't shine!  
  
Antonio's solo piece kicked major rear- he plays a mean cello, that much I admit! I didn't know about mine until afterwards… Mom and Dad looked quite pleased! Dad took us out to dinner, and we didn't get back home until LAAATE.  
  
Oh, and someone put a cricket in Antonio's cello case… I swear it wasn't me!  
  
-Cindy  
  
Date: 3.17.67 AE, 12.26 PM  
  
Well, I sure woke up late today- I'm glad it's a weekend, PHEW! I swear Antonio was flirting with one of the clarinet players yesterday during our warming-up… it seems most of the girls are concentrated around the woodwind (Why the hell is a flute a woodwind? There's no wood in it at all! Clarinets and oboes, at least, have reeds…) and the string sections. I'm one of perhaps two or three girls in the brass section, and there are NO girls in percussion! All the flute players are girls, though… hmmm, if Mum were a lot younger, she'd be among them!  
  
Clarinets, though… eeech! They just disturb me! Clarinets are just about the ickiest instruments in the whole orchestra- ya practically need a drool bucket underneath when you're playing! Those things produce massive quantities of slobber- especially those god-awful reeds! Imagine keeping that skanky mouthpiece in yer mouth the whole time yer playing… that's just revolting! And then when they're done playing, there's those icky spit-rags that probably only get washed about once a decade… I swear, at the end of a practice, there's small puddles of saliva underneath the clarinet players! The worst part is, the clarinet players wipe their slobbery reeds all over their pants! YUCK times INFINITY! At least trumpets don't get nearly that much spit… I'd clean a trumpet any day over a clarinet! Kudos to the people that can play clarinet and not get grossed out- I'm sticking to trumpet, thanks! I even heard that some dude a while back didn't clean out his clarinet for a year, and it grew mold inside- EEEEEWWWWWW!  
  
I can just imagine Antonio now… 'Come to the Dark Side… the string section… the TRUE path to musical bliss!'  
  
I must say, Dad did set the precedent as being the original string playing Sith… I bet he got a few strange looks for that one!  
  
Hey, I just got the coolest idea… actually write some notation for 'Duel of Cello and Trumpet'… maybe background accompaniment from the rest of the orchestra? I should tell Antonio, heh.  
  
-Cindy… who better go practice her Sith stuff before Dad goes nuclear!  
  
Date: 3.17.67 10:34 PM  
  
Geh, Antonio kicked my rear in saber practice… I nailed him the second time, though! Did it with his own technique, too! He certainly wasn't thrilled about that… hah.  
  
Hmmm, perhaps now I could expound on Antonio a bit- he is my twin brother, after all. (He's four minutes older than I am…) I look kinda like Mum- same black hair, but mine's a bit straighter- and I have the Reseda eyes… the Reseda luck, too, I think! (The Reseda luck SUCKS, if you must know!) Antonio looks a bit like Dad, but he has Mum's blue peepers… and that weirdo trick with turning steely gray, too, like Mum when she's pissed! Luckily, she doesn't get like that too often… Antonio doesn't, either… he's usually pretty even-tempered. (Unlike me… I get mad rather easily like Dad, but from what I've heard from him, Aunt Rori was worse at my age!) Like Mum and Aunt Rori were, Antonio and I are quite literally fire and ice- I'm fire, heh! I sorta tend to charge into things, while Tony always has these cunning plans floating around in his head… I swear he can practically conjure a contingency plan from midair! I usually fly by the seat of my pants… it works just as well, usually- unless Reseda luck rears its ugly head! (Or I sneeze! Ack, I hate allergies, but I suppose I'm used to them… I do try not to whine as much.)  
  
Antonio and I usually get along okay, if not without considerable sibling rivalry- of course, that's normal! He's a techno-geek- real good at slicing into stuff! I'm not terrible at it, either, but I don't quite have his magic touch… I'm more athletic, though, heh. I can run 10 kilometers at a time, and I also get the best times on the two-kilometer run in PE class!  
  
~#~ Cindy Reseda ~#~  
  
Date: 3.19.67AE 17:42  
  
Hehe, see, look, I switched to military time! Somehow, I wonder if Aunt Rori would even know how to tell time on a regular clock anymore… she's been in the Navy for probably half her life! Longer than Antonio and I have been around, actually. (Sooooo… that would be something over 15 years, I believe, possibly 16 or so? Lessee, Aunt Rori was 16, maybe 17 when we were born, I believe she's either 31 or 32… Mum and Dad are 5½ to 6 years older than she is, and they're both pushing 38!) Yeah, I figured just about right, hmmm?  
  
I already mentioned that Antonio is into slicing and all that… well, he really seems to like matching wits with Aunt Rori! He's always trying to hack into her systems, but she ALWAYS manages to repel him! After one of his attempts, Antonio usually gets a message from Aunt Rori to the effect of 'Busted again, kid, better try harder'! (Or just give it up, already…) Trying to outsmart her, is, like, practically impossible- she isn't an Admiral for no reason, hehe.  
  
One would think there are some perks to having an Admiral for an aunt, but I maintain that it is a royal (naval?) pain in the ass! Sure, she doesn't really have that arrogance that some people like Leiala (a Grand Admiral- possibly the only woman of higher rank than Auntie…) and, ahem, Dad seem to have in large measure… Great-aunt Liana may be as bossy as a nek battle dog, with the heart of a big fuzzy rabbit, but Aunt Rori's just plain bossy… and sometimes I wonder if she even HAS a heart! I've never seen her get worked up over anything, or go nuclear… she does have a mean turbolaser glare, though. (Mostly seen directed at Dad, heheheh.) From what Mum and Dad have said, she changed a LOT from what she used to be- namely, an everything-hating pyro. These days, her pyrokinetics only serve to bolster her reputation, not make up the basis of it. I think she likes it much better that way… but then again, with her, one can never be sure of anything.  
  
Yaaaay! Only one more week of torture- I mean, school to put up with, and we have a whole week of vacation!!!  
  
x-)- Cindy Reseda –(-x  
  
Date: 3.20.67AE  
  
GRRRR! I am SOOOOO pissed off I feel like bludgeoning something to death with a blunt object! Today bit the big bruallki in the sky- well, lunchtime especially. I mentioned earlier that I hate being hit on, and I, ahem, tend to react violently. It wasn't the tuba dude this time- no, Tuba Turd isn't blatantly, umm, well, there's no delicate way of putting this… let's just say that Lunch-time Creepazoid was making unwanted advances. Apparently, he was completely ignorant of my reputation for doing very painful things to lecherous losers after school hours, not to mention the well-known fact that I am single and NOT interested in a boyfriend! One would think that guys would have the sense not to mess with a Sith girl, but apparently, guys are much more idiotic than I previously thought. (Actually, I digress: MOST guys at school behave like proper Imperials- it's those indecent few that give the majority a bad reputation!)  
  
Aaaanyway… this jerk came up to me at lunch and started making blatantly dirty remarks! I told him, in no uncertain terms, to get away before I filleted, then charbroiled him. He didn't go away! I told him again, and he had the nerve to call me a… never mind! It's probably fortunate that Antonio came along, or I would've been guilty of homicide right then and there! Well, guess what, Lewd Lunchtime Loser didn't listen to HIM, either… at this point, I was madder than a blood-crazed vornskr! I figured the only thing this guy would listen to was my fist… it sorta degenerated from there. I meant merely to ward him off, but I ended up giving him a black eye. Serves the hoodlum quite right, really. Had I really and TRULY meant to hurt him, he would've been in traction for 6 months! (Or perhaps the burn ward…)  
  
End result? When I came home, Dad was FURIOUS- apparently, he'd gotten a report from a school administrator… Mum was pretty bent out of shape, too. At least I got Dad to stop glaring murderously at me long enough to listen- it also helped to have Antonio on my side! I still got to listen to one of Dad's egregiously long-winded and pontificating lectures, though… cruel and unusual punishment in itself, I hasten to add. Mum showed a modicum of understanding, but she also told me that I had *better* start acting like a proper young Imperial! Hah, I'm starting to think the so-called Empire isn't all it's cracked up to be! Girls just aren't safe anywhere, are they? If I was a guy, I wouldn't have so damn many problems… but then again I could end up like Antonio the walking lump of testosterone-high male! Maybe it is a girl's galaxy after all- RIIIIIIGHT.  
  
~+~ Cindy Reseda the Pissed ~+~  
  
Date: 3.21.67AE 21:31  
  
Feel them brain cells kicking off, doo-dah, doo-dah, feel them brain cells kicking off, oh, doo-dah day! I have about three brain cells left, and two of them are on the verge of death- been working on my science paper all day! G'night! ZZZZZZZZZ…  
  
-Cindy, who is gonna sleep like a dead thing!  
  
3.22.67AE 21:31  
  
I didn't write much of an entry last night 'cause I was dead tired- and I almost overslept, too! If Antonio hadn't woken me up, I hate to think of what would've happened. Well, Dion Travers was up to his usual idiocy in Chemistry class! He hasn't beaten his big Biology goof-up from last year yet, though… someone else dumped chopped-up frog parts from our dissection lab into his drink, and DION CHUGGED IT! Oh, MAN, everyone was cracking up! Especially Antonio… I still think he had a hand in that prank!  
  
Anyway, this time Dion had a bit of an accident with the potassium… he almost set his entire lab station on fire! (Hey, the fire was purple…) Since I'm unfortunate enough to have my lab station right next to his, my stuff almost went up in flames, too! If I hadn't grabbed the fire extinguisher, Dion would've flambéed us all! Ironic for a pyro to end up a firefighter, hmmm? Hahah, Incendia Reseda, Chemistry Class Hero! (Really, though… covering for the idiocy of other people is very annoying…)  
  
Oh, and other news- I hear we might be visiting Aunt Rori… I don't want to, I'd rather hang out with Uncle Omni! He's way more fun… Aunt Rori's just a pain!  
  
~^~ Cindy Reseda, firefighter? (How ironic…) ~^~  
  
  
  
3.23.67 20:49  
  
Oh, NOOOOO! Official confirmation from Mum and Dad that Antonio and I are staying with Aunt Rori for an ENTIRE WEEK! AAAAAUUUUUUUGH! We're leaving tomorrow night… GRRR. Last time we saw her, Antonio, myself and Auntie's apprentice Aithne ended up getting 'kidnapped'… Rori and her bloody tests! I hate her! Antonio and her seem to get along fine, though… weeeeird.  
  
Sooo, basically, we get to hang out on Aunt Rori's flagship, the Atropos- her fleet has two other Imperial-class Star Destroyers, the Clotho and the Lachesis. I think she has a few Victories in there as well, and some smaller ships, too. At any rate, it's pretty a pretty good amount of firepower, considering she's the lowest ranked of the four 'leaders' the Empire seems to have- there's two Grand Admirals, Sidere and the aforementioned Leiala Ameliorer. (She's one of Dad's friends, as it happens!) Then, there's the Head Honcho himself- forgot his name, I think it was something like, uhm, might have been Aiding Crane… oh, oops! Now I remember, it was that Aidan Bane dude. Great guy, I heard all about how he rose to power around the same time Aunt Rori was a Cadet. (Actually, from what I hear, she played a major part in his rise…) Oh yeah, there's a couple of others, as well, who stay in the background but are no less important! There's some Sith Lord that Dad knows, and some other dude whose name I forgot. Err, I think it was Antiar…  
  
I expect Aunt Rori may eventually be promoted to Grand Admiral, but I don't think there is room in the Empire for a third! Maybe after that Sidere fellow retires… heh.  
  
Anyway, I'm not exactly thrilled about spending a week with Miss Navy Witch, but I suppose it's better than taking a field trip to Nal Hutta… heh. Nothing to do but shut up and smile, riiiight?  
  
One might wonder why I don't like my aunt… to put it succinctly she's a domineering hellcat! She also has absolutely no concept of fairness… she takes demonic pleasure in humiliating people- especially me, GRRRRR. I bet the Cadets just LOVE her- HAH!  
  
-Cindy Reseda- am I a heel for hating my aunt?  
  
3.24.67AE 21:17  
  
Well, well… we're on our way to the Atropos. What fun… blah! Antonio seems pretty okay about it, though. I'd almost say he's psyched- but that is not a word one normally applies to him. Well, turned in my science paper today- it came out to 10 freaking pages! Antonio did his on computer systems… figures, doesn't it?  
  
Okay, Mum's challenged me to a sparring match- EEP!  
  
-Cindy  
  
3.24.67 21:56  
  
Mum beat the pants off me! I usually have slightly better luck against Dad, though he wins more than I do… I really like watching him and Antonio go at it, which is what I'm doing right now! WHOO! GO, Antonio, kick Dad's rear!  
  
I made a bet with Mum… 20 creds says Antonio wins!!!  
  
Pay up, Mum! MUAHAHAHAHAH! Get ya back for beating me in saber practice… turnabout is fair play!  
  
Well, about 10 more minutes to the Atropos! Wonderful… I'd rather be on Kessel, jeez!  
  
-Cindy Reseda 


End file.
